Mobile communication devices have become increasingly common in current society for providing wireless communication services. The prevalence of these mobile communication devices is driven in part by the many functions that are now enabled on such devices. Increased processing capabilities in such devices means that mobile communication devices have evolved from being pure communication tools into sophisticated mobile multimedia centers that enable enhanced user experiences.
The redefined user experience requires higher data rates offered by wireless communication technologies, such as long-term evolution (LTE). Particularly in light of carrier aggregation (CA) schemes supported by modern cellular communications networks, a mobile communication device can be configured to simultaneously transmit an outgoing radio frequency (RF) signal(s) in multiple uplink frequency bands, while receiving an incoming RF signal(s) in multiple downlink frequency bands. The uplink and downlink frequency bands supported by a mobile communication device can be generally categorized based on respective frequency spectrums for easy reference. Some of the most commonly referenced frequency band categories include low-band (LB), mid-low-band (MLB), mid-band (MB), and high-band (HB). The LB, the MLB, the MB, and the HB categories typically refer to frequency spectrums between 450-960 MHz, 1452-1496 MHz, 1710-2200 MHz, and 2300-2700 MHz, respectively.
Support for the multiple frequency bands is provided by multiple radio front-ends, each supporting one or more frequency bands. Each radio front-end may be connected to a common antenna via a multiplexer (e.g., a diplexer for the dual-band scenario, a triplexer for a tri-band scenario, a quadplexer for quad-band scenario, or a pentaplexer for a penta-band scenario). Furthermore, the mobile communication device may include multiple antennas, each coupled to one or more multiplexers, to support multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and/or RF beamforming operations. In this regard, it may be desired to optimize configurations between the multiple radio front-ends and the multiple antennas to provide flexible band combinations without compromising RF performance of the mobile communication device.